The Bigger tikis mean Bigger tools. For the redwood tikis I brought up my big saw A Stihl .090 with a 6 foot bar and full cut chisel chain, No safety stuff for this bad boy. When I cranked that saw up. folks came running because they knew I was doins something VeryDifferent . Mind you I worked for the Landscape department but was paid by the Entertainment Dept. I had to join anUniou and when they could not catagorize me they gave me Honorary membership. Half my job WAS Entertaining the hotels customers and I certainly did. They placed me out in their garden unmder a Willow tryy across from a grassy field that they figured could pack in 500 people.BAck to the ChaiSaw, it brought the 500 people and more. It was Me against the log and I had the chainsaw and it had nuthin but chipsThe big Maori is the one I don't remember too much of the carving part but I shaved the log down and had it roughed out the first day. Day 2 was detail and cleanup with my small saw the Stihl .020 . that was finished by noon and the rest of the day was smoothing with the 4" Angle grinder and a makita 4000 rpm 5" sander I had running through a router speed control.
This is the tool that gave me all the smoothe round curves and lines that were so straight The next day was down to chisels and my big 3/4 horse electric recriprocating Flex shaft chisel actually carved the tattoos faster than the timr it took me to draw them out. the mouth nose and eyes were all done with thaat tool. and I don't think I ever raised a mallet to the carving All Power but for the drawing whish was done by hand. The Hotel said I had the Largest crouds for that carving than any other. No wondwe whoever took over for me would nod let go until it was done. I hope this helps and if you have any questions not speak right up.
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Hey ya mister Aaron, I've got a digital camera, juast haven't had time to use it. I'll see if I can post up a picture of those angle wood grinding discs. Hopefully this weekend.
And Mr. Benzart, where didja learn all this? Did you have somebody like you are to all if us? Or is it trial and error? Truly awesome things you've accomplished.
Oh, the guys at work mainly on pine and the bits load up pretty good, and we've tried all different ways of cleaning them without ruining the tool. And wouldn't you know it, just soaking them in warm water worked the best.
Mahalo

Just being smart-aleky about the camera Mr. Dale - your post is chock full of great info. Ben's talking about these big chainsaws & I'm thinking more like you & tikitony, who like the little electric Sears specials. Either way I'd probably wind up with a big pile of tiki chips. I think I'll just work my way up to die grinders & angle grinders & maybe someday graduate to the big dawg chainsaws like you fellas.

I guess what I'm hearing from you guys is that Tungsten Carbide tools are the way to go. It sounds like it takes quite a while to wear them out. Benzart set me straight on those cheapy Harbor Freight specials, but that was after I'd already ordered them. I'll see how fast I can wear 'em out.

The other thing I'm hearing is that the good tools are pricy, but well worth it for the long run. Guess I'll be selling a few tikis to stock up. It's funny, I keep saying I'm going to carve some for my place, but I keep finding new tools that I must have. Thanks to you guys!

Oh, & Mr. Dale - If you want to post those pics, go ahead. I figure if they're helpful to me, they'll helpful to all of the other guys that have never carved, stumble across TC, and get hooked like I did.

Ben,

How does that router speed control work? Do you just plug the sander into it? And you also mentioned a "big 3/4 horse electric reciprocating Flex shaft chisel". This sounds like a real badass tool. Is it hard to control?

I've got a few tools & I guess I'll get them posted pretty soon since you guys have put so much effort in here to help the neo-carvers. I've gotta say, though, my wish list is a now a lot bigger than my tool chest. Thanks a lot, guys!
_________________"Ah, good taste! What a dreadful thing! Taste is the enemy of creativeness."
-Pablo Picasso

Mr Dale, Most of this I learned on my own, However, I was Fortunate enough to have an old Master work with me for a few months when I was making the transition from Strictly chainsaw to some cs and a lot chisels. I offered him Half of whatever we worked on together and sold. I had the better deal, though he made aa decent amount of money and would have done it for free. I'll never understand him in the fact that he had No interest in carving brfore I met him. He had not carved for Many years and after we quit working together he went back to his Non carving life. So Yes I had someone to help me but he was FAR more the Master than I will ever be.
Aaron, the Router speed control is a small electronic desl a little thicker than a pack of ciggs and has a wire/plug coming out one end, a Female plug on the other and a dial knob on the top with a 2 way switch for speed control or full power. They cost about $40 and work with most routers, grinders and sanders. just plug it in, plug your tool into it. turn on your grinder and dial in the sspeed that works best for hat application. It gies you Control of your tools.
The big recprocating tool was awesome. Automach is coming out with one about half the size but it looks REAL Good, tho pricy. Here is a link to it
http://automach.com/pages/frame31/prod2-e.htmlIf it is half as good as the one I had it will be ten times as good as what I have now.
Well thats about it for now, my stitched up finger is throbbing. got a Tiki Bite and 5 stitches to stop the bleeding.
Later guys.
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I tracked down some web pics of some of these tools for the other TC neo-carvers….

Quote:

On 2004-08-19 11:39, Benzart wrote:Sure FinkDaddy, It sounds like a Die Grinder. It most likley has a 1/4 inch chuck and you can get a whole list of good burs for it. it is actually better than a dremel for log sized tikis as it has more power and the burs available are larger. There are steel burs at lowes and Home Depot, but thay will not last long. You are better off getting the Carbide burs. Here is a link to a good supply store. I use them all the time
http://www.treelineusa.com/frames/power.htmlJust scroll down to the "1/4" Shaft Extreme Burs" and there you go. you have to click on each one to see the pic.
Good luck..

On 2004-08-25 12:44, Mr. Dale wrote: As far as all this goes and since Aaron asked, I do the rough carving of Tiki's with a chainsaw. I put away my engine powered saws and 'invested' in a craftsman 3.5 electric, automatic oiling beast that I absolutely love. No fuss, no gas, no mixing.
Just add oil, sharpen, plug in and carve em up. And then when I get my basic shape I switch over to my 4" Makita grinder with a Tungsten Carbide Grinding wheel that is the best thing I have ever found.

On 2004-08-25 20:31, Benzart wrote:The Bigger tikis mean Bigger tools. For the redwood tikis I brought up my big saw A Stihl .090 with a 6 foot bar and full cut chisel chain, No safety stuff for this bad boy….

……. Day 2 was detail and cleanup with my small saw the Stihl .020 . that was finished by noon ….

…The next day was down to chisels and my big 3/4 horse electric reciprocating Flex shaft chisel actually carved the tattoos faster than the time it took me to draw them out…..

PNEUMATIC CARVING TOOLS
Benzart was kind enough to share with me his vast knowledge in this area…

Quote:

On 2004-08-30 06:38, Benzart wrote:… Air tools ? I know they don't suck, they Blow…

Here’s my scenario…I have a friend with some extra pneumatic tools and a compressor that he’s not using & might want to barter for some tiki.

Has anyone out there been using air tools for carving? Any Pros or Cons to air vs. power tools? I’m trying to figure this out ahead of time because making this trade will definitely lead to more cash outlay down the line for more pneumatic components. And that means carving more tikis to buy more tools to carve more tikis…

So, should I stick with the power tools or head down the air tools path? Any opinions out there?

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"Ah, good taste! What a dreadful thing! Taste is the enemy of creativeness."
-Pablo Picasso

There are Air tools for about every electric. I have never used Air, but would like a compressor to ADD to my tools. I like the air die grinder, pad sander and the "Air Chisel" is Very Powerful and you can get gouges that fit it.
I would go for it and keep a balance of air and power.
That oic of the stihl 0.90 make it look Small. THat beast comes with a 9 foot bar.you can get 24 inch and up for it.The power head itself is an arm full. The 0.20 is a small saw and was very popular with the pro tree trimmers.
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I love this thread. Truly infomative.
Thanks Ben for starting it. Learning a lot.
Thank Aaron for posting all those pics. Good work again.
Had no time this weekend to post, lil' Tiger of a son is sick, wife is stressed, and all I want to do is finish Tiki #3.
Thanks for all you're guyz info.

I recently acquired this 13 gallon oil-less air compressor, two die grinders, air drill & the other straight tool below from a friend who is a painter. We are bartering his spare air tools for some tiki. He wants a 2-footer, and is going to pick something out of the BOT. I’ll make a few changes to personalize it, & maybe add some tile inlay. It should be a challenge, cause I have no idea what he’s going to pick. It’s my next tiki project, & I’ll be sure to post some progress pics as I go.
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Compressor

Air tools

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A couple of questions for those who know:

1) Is anybody else here at TC using air tools for their carving? If so, are there any particular tools that have worked especially well for you?

2) This compressor is only 13 gallon capacity, and not really recommended for die grinders, orbital sanders, or other tools that need a constant air flow. It works pretty well, but sometimes I have to wait for the compressor to catch up. If I add another tank in-line, will it give enough extra capacity to help with the problem? Or will the motor just run constantly to keep up? Someday I might buy a larger compressor with bigger HP, but for now, maybe this will work as a quick fix.

Any ideas & suggestions would be much appreciated.

A-A

_________________"Ah, good taste! What a dreadful thing! Taste is the enemy of creativeness."
-Pablo Picasso

I have a small, yet heavy-duty hand grinder. I haven't used it yet because I have no bits. I'm going to stop by Home Depot today to get one for roughing out a piece of hardwood I found last night. I was hoping to get some advice on which bit to start with.

The grinder takes the Dremel-type 18 inch shaft bits. Unfortunately though, the grinder only works at one speed: 20,000 rpms! I believe at work we only used it to shape small pieces of brass and aluminum for heatseal dies.

Should I even use this tool because of the high rpms? Will buying a carbide bit be enough? I'm assuming I should get a wood burr, or is there something better? Are carbide bits very expensive?

I'm sure Benzart will give you some excellent advice on this, but I'm just curious - you mentioned a heavy duty grinder, but also 1/8" bits. What make/model is it? Not Dremel? I'm now to the point where the dremel only seems useful for small detail work - not the majority of wood removal. I'm using a die grinder with 1/4" bits for that - or will be on the next tiki. Just finishing up the current one.

Anyway, my experience is that anything other than the tungsten carbide bits will be a disappointment. The other bits I've used dulled up pretty quick. By comparison, the Tungsen bit has showed no signs of dulling so far. My Dremel goes up to 32,000 RPm, and I've been running it about 2/3 speed or greater. So, if you pick up a dremel 1/8" tungsten carbide bit and run is at 20,000 rpm, I think it will be okay.

The tungsten carbide bit I've been using is the Dremel No. 9901. I think it will work well for you.

Kono posted this on my string, and it may be a good bit for you, though I haven't tried it myself.

Quote:

On 2004-09-12 18:02, Kono wrote:I tried using diamond bits to drill through glass and I ate through several bits in just a few minutes. Of course, they were "flea market" dremel bits so I'm sure they were of inferior quality. Anyway...this is the best dremel bit I've ever used. You could burrow to the center of the Earth with this sucker. You said you used a carbide bit but not sure if it's the same one. It's a little more expensive (like $12-$15) but you can usually find it at your local Home Depot. They make other shapes of the structured tooth tungsten carbide cutters but I had to order them online.

Anyway, this should be some good advice for you. I know how tough it is to make the right decisions on tools when your figuring how to spend your tiki tools $'s. I've bought enough cheap, worthless, or just wrong tools to know!

Good luck...and show us what you're working on.

Ben?...Any wisdom to add for Finkdaddy?
_________________"Ah, good taste! What a dreadful thing! Taste is the enemy of creativeness."
-Pablo Picasso

Thanks Aaron for the advice. And you're right about the tiki cash flow. Sometimes it's hard to justify buying tiki stuff when the bills need to be paid. "Honey we don't need electricity right? But look at this COOOOL wall hanging!"

Anyway, the grinder I have is a Skil Model 146 Hand Grinder. It's pretty old, but it has a ton of torque. It looks like it should take a larger bit, but it just doesn't. And there is just an on off switch, no adjustments allowed.

I'll get something nicer eventualy, but free was a pretty good price for this one.

Again, mahalo for all the great carving tips. I will post pics as I go along.

First of all the comments on rotary tool speeds helped ALOT! I found that working at slower speeds helped with removing material while higher speeds worked better for finishing.

I have some experience with air tools and will tell you that depending on the amount of work you do, will dictate how well the tools work. The reason that most people use electric or gas tools is that there is no reduction in torque. No matter the size or horsepower on air compressors, if you use them alot eventually the pump will have to catch up (unless you go industrial). Ths comes from my days of doing auto body repair. The good thing is that air tools are alot less expensive than power tools.

I know the feeling. I'm slowly upgrading my tools, but have to sell more tikis to do it.

Thanks, Aloha.

I figured out that "catching up" thing with the air comp. pretty quick, especially when using the die grinder. For now a cheap solution will be to pick up a 13 gallon reserve tank (about $30) & just connect it downstream of the compressor. Same problem, but it just takes longer to run out after the initial air charge. Long term, I'd like to pick up a larger HP/receiver tank model, but your talkin' a few bucks there. I will definitely NOT be buying any air sanders, because this comp. just won't hack it for that kind of use. Thanks for the advice.
_________________"Ah, good taste! What a dreadful thing! Taste is the enemy of creativeness."
-Pablo Picasso

Hey Aaron I can swear by the arbortech blades they're great.They also make a mini grinder adaptor that gives a smaller blade to go on 100mm grinders.Not only that thay also come in tungsten carbide which removes wood really fast.If it blunts you can rotate the teeth to new ones.
And no I don't work for the company although I think they are an Aussie company.
Oh yeah they are pretty lethal so don all your safety gear guys.

Thanks, Mate! Glad to see several new Aussies joining TC lately. I've got a few carvings lined up, & about 3rd down the line will be a 6 ft. ficus log that I just obtained. I think I'll get an arbortech disc & try it on that one.

A-A
_________________"Ah, good taste! What a dreadful thing! Taste is the enemy of creativeness."
-Pablo Picasso